KR20230110534A - Hand and wrist aids for persons facilitating extension movements - Google Patents

Abstract

A hand-wrist aid device formed by a stretchable glove is disclosed wherein the ends of a finger and the end of a wrist include an inner stretchable silicone layer that acts as a mechanical fixation element for fixation to the skin, these fixation elements are connected to a rigid structure connected to an elastic element, and transmits elastic energy from the wrist to a central floating component on the dorsal carpal muscle, wherein this energy is distributed to each finger distal portion, wherein the elastic element is guided by the rigid component disposed in a path extending from the central component to the finger distal portion, ensuring correct alignment. These external elements have interlocking elements that create continuity from the distal end of the wrist to the distal end of the fingers or fingers. A cushioning element is placed on the palm to redistribute the pressure to the wrist area.

Description

Hand and wrist aids for persons facilitating extension movements

The present application relates to a (dynamic) orthotic glove that promotes finger and wrist extension movement during typing. This accessory prevents pain symptoms of the hand and wrist by means of a padded elastic structure having a function of reducing fatigue and damage to the extensor muscles of the finger, hand, and wrist by redistributing pressure particularly at anatomical points such as the carpal tunnel, hypothenar, and the thenar of the hand. perform the function of

Currently, repetitive motion injuries are common in typing and manufacturing professions. With the popularization of the technology, these pathologies and symptoms are showing an increase across age and gender, and there are various uses of repetitive exercises in leisure time that additionally increase the likelihood of developing pathologies such as carpal tunnel, tendinitis, trigger finger, and tenosynovitis.

Conventional therapies for these complications include immobilization with orthotics, neuromuscular taping, drug therapy, kinematic or physiotherapy rehabilitation when acute or chronic pathological conditions are diagnosed, and in some cases surgical solutions have been reached. Prevention of these injuries is achieved by periodic stretching of the hand and wrist muscles, ergonomic postures, and assistive devices.

One of the therapeutic principles of neuromuscular taping is the mechanical palpation of muscles by means of an elastic bandage placed over the path of a muscle or set of muscles involved in the action movement produced by them.

A number of hand and upper limb aids exist to protect these structures from different variables, from temperature to extreme mechanical forces. There are also those that serve decorative and comfort purposes, and on the other hand, there are orthoses for the treatment of hand, wrist and forearm pathologies, which are designed for the treatment of these pathologies and in response to diagnosis prevent their recurrence, maintaining the principle of gradual limited mobilization and/or immobilization of the anatomy so that they adapt to the healing process without additional complexity.

One of the most representative solutions in the typing work environment is a workstation with aids to prevent and protect hand, wrist and forearm injuries, usually due to repetitive motion and poor posture, following ergonomic standards designed to avoid these types of health complications. Nonetheless, these interventions are not entirely effective as they are passive and rely on user participation rather than integrated into a single device for everyday use.

The currently used methods mentioned have the additional disadvantage of addressing mainly in response to diagnosis or advanced stage of deterioration, and the methods for prophylaxis are manual elements, requiring expert guidance and monitoring, which reduces the effectiveness of prophylactic techniques for their therapeutic purpose and economics.

Thus, it is clear that there is a need for an element that is dynamic with respect to motion of the hand and passive at the pressure point, with a structure that protects the anatomy associated with tendon pathology and nerve compression, and that performs prevention of pain symptoms in repetitive typing tasks independent of expert installation, guidance, and monitoring in the field.

Among the investigated patents, the most similar is also patent US2005/223469A1 for prevention on repetitive motion, and the difference from the present invention is that this patent focuses on flexion motion and console-type video game control, and its principle is the use of terminal agents for muscle protection and mechanical stimulation.

The solution proposed in this application is similar to the widely used treatment principle of neuromuscular taping (USPTO no. 3523859) and is based on the objective of facilitating movement and reducing the mechanical load of the finger extension, which selectively protects pressure areas by means of passive dampening elements, ensuring protection of tendons and anatomical structures associated with neuropathology.

In this context, the incorporation of this aid, which may adapt to the treatment goals of prophylaxis independent of the installation, guidance and calibration of medical professionals, uses essential and repetitive hand movements to increase the economy of prophylaxis in typing work, and opens up new concepts for different areas of work that protect workers' health and avoid restrictions on their activities of daily living.

This aid consists of a glove with severed fingers, which has in its upper part an elastic outer structure that applies mechanical support to the path of the tendons of the common extensors of the fingers to promote extension of the fingers from a flexed finger position when typing on keys, in addition to that, in the distal regions of the fingers and wrist, cushioning structures in the thumb, small ball, pads, radial and ulnar regions, to provide the external structure with the required mechanical fixation elements to facilitate extension movements, to the skin by silicone fabric on the inside of the glove. It is fixed.

The gloves are formed by breathable, hypoallergenic, elastane (spandex), non-toxic, washable, antifungal silicone microfibres in the distal region of the fingers and wrist, and have a single color, a variety of colors or textures, shapes and motifs, summer or winter fabrics are also used.

The advantages of this aid lie in the accessibility and ease of use of the tool for prophylaxis without the need for installation and professional guidance, relieves the load from the anatomy while increasing comfort, has a longer service life than that of neuromuscular taping, is adaptable to elastic loads, has easy-to-replace parts, and is a reusable orthosis for the prevention of tendon pathologies, thereby preventing job abandonment.

In view of the foregoing, it would be advantageous to develop an assistive device for the relief or reduction of pain symptoms associated with mechanical loading of the extensors and tendons of the hand in a typing position for extended periods of time, and which functions to prevent muscle and tendon pathologies.

In summary, the present invention implements a glove having an elastic structure along the path of the extensor tendons of the fingers, hand and wrist (dorsal part of the hand), and having a pressure dissipation structure in the thumb, small ball, carpal tunnel and metacarpal regions.

1 is a plan view showing a hand wearing a glove of the present invention.
Figure 2 is a view showing the bottom or palm view of the hand wearing the glove of the present invention.
Figure 3 shows a top perspective view of the support and wrist fixation elements of the glove.
Figure 4 shows a top perspective view of the carpal or central fixation component of the present invention.
Figure 5 shows a top perspective view of the elastic element and fixation mechanism of the finger and carpal tendon support system.
6 shows a top perspective view of the fixation mechanism of the distal finger tendon support system.
7 shows a top perspective view of a guiding element for guiding an elastic element along an extension path;

A (dynamic) corrective glove that promotes finger extension during typing work consists of a tight-fitting elastic glove (1) covering from the proximal phalanx of the thumb and the medial phalanx of the fingers to the wrist joint, constituting the body of the device in which other functional elements are accommodated.

The elastic glove 1 is formed of breathable, hypoallergenic, spandex, non-toxic, washable, antifungal silicon microfiber in the distal region of the finger and wrist for the purpose of fixing to the skin of the hand and wrist by adhesion and compression, and in these regions, the wrist anchoring region 5 and the finger anchoring region 2, the rigid finger end 4 and the wrist end 15 are located.

The rigid finger tip (4) has two finger connecting bosses (7) with two side tabs (9) for centering the path of the elastic element (10) and two finger connection bosses (7) cooperating with the elastic perforations (8) in the elastic element (10), the elastic perforations (8) of the exotendon elastic element (10) function to generate finger extension force when the hand is in a flexed position on a mouse or analog computer keyboard, wherein the proximal portion of this element is mechanically having a connecting end (11) with two extruded elastic bosses (12) interconnecting the two central part perforations (14) of the central part (13) to be fixed and interconnecting the two central part perforations (14) of the central part (13) to generate a tension graduation system according to the selection of the joining points, generating connectivity with an elastic structure disposed from the wrist fixing element (5) to the rigid finger ends (4) and being attached to the central part (13) on the dorsal part of the hand, said central part (13) having at least two central part perforations (14) Forms five slots 20 each having a.

The wrist fastening element 5 has a certain height from its fastening point with the distal end for the elastic element 10 and the coupling part 15 to prevent friction between the aforementioned elastic part and the textile material of the glove.

The purpose of the wrist fastening element 5 glued on the surface of the wrist 3, which contains silicon therein, is to project the coupling part 15 from the removable bend in the region of the wrist of the glove of the hand to the central part 13, and is fixed to the coupling part by means of a bend comprising a male bend part 16 having a shape extending onto a female bend part 17 designed to be mutually coupled thereby creating continuity between the outer parts.

The purpose of the finger exotendon elastic structure or elastic element 10 is to generate elastic force towards finger extension and limit hand and finger flexion in the typing position and where work is performed on a personal computer or PC, the finger exotendon elastic structure provides a specific path for each tendon of the common extensor of the fingers by a rigid guide 18 with two rigid guides side tabs 19 guiding the path of the elastic element 10 over the metacarpals and proximal phalanges of the hand and thumb. , wherein the modular design allows replacement of these elastic elements 10 to customize them, adjust tension or perform maintenance.

The palm includes external cushioning elements or pads placed at anatomical locations to relieve load from areas where tendons, muscles and nerves are located. The pads of the radial region 21 and the pads 22 of the ulnar region, together with the pads of the thumb region 24 and the minor ball region 25, are arranged with a gap therebetween to accommodate the load in the region of the radial and ulnar pathways and in the region of the palmar finger protrusions 25, and are arranged to release pressure loads and accommodate ventilation on the hollow center of the palm where the tendons of the palmar flexors are located and the pathway of the carpal tunnel.

1: elastic glove 2: finger fixing area
3: wrist 4: rigid finger distal end
5: wrist fixation area 6: finger joint boss
7: elastic perforated part 8: side tab
9: elastic element 10: connection end
11: extruded elastic boss 12: central part
13: central part perforation 14: coupling part
15: male refracting part 16: female refracting part
17: rigid guide 18: rigid guide side tab
19: slot 20: cushioning element of the radial region of the hand
21: cushioning element in the ulnar region; 22: cushioning element in the subglot region;
23: Buffer element of the non-global region
24: cushioning element in the region of palmar finger projections

Claims (6)

A hand-wrist assistive device for a person facilitating an extension movement, which functions to prevent muscle and tendon pathology and allow relief or reduction of pain symptoms associated with mechanical loading of the extensor muscles and tendons of the hand in a typing position for extended periods of time, comprising:
- an elastic glove (1), wherein the distal ends of the fingers and the wrist form a flexible silicone layer which is secured to the skin by means of a silicone fabric inside the glove, in which regions, in a wrist anchoring region (5) and a finger anchoring region (2), a plurality of rigid fingertips (4) and a wrist tip (15) are located;
- a central part (13) included in the region of the dorsal carpal bones of the hand of the glove, which is joined to the distal end of the wrist (15) by means of a bend, said central part (13) forming five slots (20) each having at least two central part perforations (14);
- in each finger of the glove of the inner phalanx of the finger on the dorsal part, a rigid finger distal end 4 formed on the finger fixing element 2, each having two finger connecting bosses 7;
- four rigid guides 18 between the dorsal carpal region of the hand and the knuckle region of the hand and four rigid guide parts 18 of the knuckle region of the hand, each rigid guide part 18 following the direction of the fingers;
- five elastic elements (10), one for each finger, comprising at one end two extruded elastic bosses (12) interconnected with the central part perforations (14) of the central part (13) and comprising at the other end an elastic perforation (8) complementary to the finger connection bosses (7) of the rigid finger distal end (4), these connecting means comprising five elastic elements (10), which define different tension scale levels depending on where they are engaged;
- an elastic element is installed between the central part (13) and the rigid finger terminal part (9) by means of bosses and perforations, is also guided by a rigid guide (18), extends along a path similar to the biomechanics of the common extensor tendon of the finger, is arranged in a path extending from the central part to the finger terminal part, ensuring its correct alignment, the elastic element corresponding to the thumb of the glove is only connected between the central part (13) and the rigid finger terminal part (9);
- a pad or cushioning element is placed on the palm of the hand of the glove in the region of the radial region (21), the ulnar region (22), the polio region (23), the thumb region (24) and the palmar finger protrusions (25) of the hand to redistribute the pressure in the wrist region. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the glove (1) is formed by breathable, hypoallergenic, elastane (spandex), non-toxic, washable, antifungal silicon microfibres in the distal region of the fingers and wrist, and has a single color, a variety of colors or textures, shapes and motifs, summer or winter fabrics are also used as well. 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the central part (13), the coupling part (15), the guide part (18) and the rigid finger tips (4) are made from a thermoplastic material. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the rigid finger tips (4) have two side tabs (9) for centering the path of the elastic element (10). 3. Device according to claim 2, characterized in that the wrist fixation element (5) has a certain height from its fixation point with the distal end for the elastic element (10) and the coupling part (15) to prevent friction between the elastic part and the textile material of the glove. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the bend comprises a male bendable part (16) having a shape extending onto a female bendable part (17) designed to be coupled with one another.

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